Update 10-2-07

Hi,

A series of short things, originals and forwards.

First, from Amy Miller:  The last newsletter was very timely as I just last week saw in Barnes and Noble a book by Jerome Groopman called How Doctors Think.  Then I read a review of it in The New York Review of Books from May 31, 2007.  The book offers very good explanations of the thinking errors made by doctors.  according to the book, 15% of their diagnoses are inaccurate.  My father went into congestive heart failure after a month of classic congestive heart failure symptoms, which were misdiagnosed by three doctors.  He wasn't sleeping well, his blood pressure was getting lower and lower, and he felt stuffed up.  Finally, a nurse walking by while he was eating one day said, "You don't look so good.  Let me take your pulse ox level."  She then said, "Go right to the hospital emergency room for a chest x-ray."  The cardiologist's office had said my father had allergies, the internist said it could be strep throat and gave him antibiotics, and the ENT doctor gave him a prescription for a stuffed nose and sent him for allergy testing.  We now know that my father had all the signs for congestive heart failure, and he now has a new cardiologist and internist who take the time to listen to him and don't jump to conclusions or rush him out the door.

    Next, from Emily Kleinman Schreiber:  Happy Autumn!   I'm writing now to let you know that the Autumn Alumni Bulletin is in the drafting stage.  I'm a little backed up because I took a four hour per week job teaching writing at Nassau Community College, and it's turning out to be much more time consuming than I had anticipated.  The long and short of it is that my days and nights are simply not long enough.  So please bear with me.
         Also, please let me know if you:
        1)  Download the Bulletin when you get it.
        2)  Read it after you download it.
        3)  Think it should be sent out via the postal service even though it would be quite costly when you consider printing and postage.
        4)  Have connections in the printing business.
        Further, if your class is planning a reunion for this coming year or beyond, please let me know the details, so I can put that information on the front page of the Bulletin.
       And please remember that many of you were members of the Alumni Association last year, but we're counting on you to join again during our autumn membership drive.  So, take a minute or two to write and ask me for the membership application.  Then download it, print it, write your check, and send it off to our Treasurer, Dennis Shapiro.  Thanks, bunches.
        PS Thanks to those of you who've already sent in your dues.  Your continued support is needed and appreciated.  My e-mail address is:  Cre8em@aol.com.

    From Karin Schade Sofarelli:  Hello, all.  I'd like to announce a staged reading of The Remembered, a play by Elliott Levine.  This reading is planned to commemorate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the opening of the Vietnam Memorial.  The reading will be accompanied by visual images taken from the book Letters on the Wall: Offering and Remembrances From the Vietnam Veterans Memorial by Michael Sofarelli.
        The reading will be at the John Cranford Adams Theater at Hofstra University.  There will be two performances:  Saturday, October 13, 2007, at 8:00 PM and Sunday, October 14, 2007, at 2:00 PM.  The box office phone number is:  516-463-6644.  Hope we'll see you soon.

    The first forward, from Barbara Blitfield Pech, is titled Brooklyn Memories.  It was sent to her by someone who commented, "It gave me goosebumps.  The link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InRQQu96tFk

    The second forward, is from Donald Faber, who comments:  Don't know if anyone's passed this along yet, but if not, I urge you to set aside a few minutes and watch this.  This is pretty much guaranteed to boggle your mind.  We sure have all moved along since 1965.  The link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljbI-363A2Q

    [Rich -- It's an interesting little video, and I wonder if its facts are true.  I meant to try and check on Urban Legend and then I got busy.
        Something else that's interesting:  a conversation I had that started with an e-mail forwarded to our site.  The subject line said Looking For.
   
    The note said:  I am Dorothea Spencer (maiden name).  I graduated from LHS in 1965.

    I wrote back:
    Hi,
    Did you know people from South in 1965, or did you go there yourself, earlier?  Your name sounds familiar.
    Rich Eisbrouch

    And she wrote:
    I went to Logansport High School in Indiana.  Where is South High School?
    Dottie

    And I wrote:
    Dottie,
    Valley Stream South is just outside New York City.  But the next town over is Lynbrook, so when you said LHS, I thought you might have lived in Lynbrook and known people who went to South.  But, no, you were hundred of miles away.  So the real question is "How did you find our class' website?
   Hope all's well in Indiana.
    Rich
   
    And Dottie wrote:
    Rich,
    I live in Florida now.  I got an e-mail Looking for Dorothea C. Spencer, which is my maiden name.
    Funny, isn't it?
    Dottie
   
    And I wrote:
    Dottie,
    See, that's why the name your name was almost familiar.  There was a woman in our class named Dorothy Spencer.  I know several people have been looking for her since the 60s, and, through the Internet, one of these well-meaning people have managed to intrude in your life.
    In any case, it's been good talking with you.
    Rich

    [Rich -- So it seems that someone else is still looking for Dorothy Spencer.  But I don't know who started the original conversation.]
   
    One quick reminder:  The next Alumni Association meeting is this Thursday, October 4th, around 7:15 in South's library.